Irakli Kobakhidze Officially Nominated as New Prime Minister

The Chair of the ruling “Georgian Dream” (GD) party, Irakli Kobakhidze, has been nominated as the country’s new Prime Minister at the party’s congress on February 1.

According to Article 80 of the Georgian Constitution, Kobakhidze now needs 76 votes (simple majority) from all 150 members of the Georgian Parliament for final approval as Prime Minister, and since Georgian Dream has a majority in the Parliament, it is expected that he will have no problem getting the approval.

At today’s Congress, Irakli Garibashvili, the outgoing Prime Minister of Georgia, who had resigned from his post on January 29, was endorsed by the Political Council as the Chairman of the “Georgian Dream.”

After the Party Congress, which lasted about 16 minutes, Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists that all ministers would remain in office except for Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze. Burchuladze is to be replaced by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Irakli Chikovani. Kobakhidze said Burchuladze had expressed a desire to “leave politics for another field.”

Juansher Burchuladze also told journalists that he had been offered the post of Georgia’s next Ambassador to NATO, which he would “likely” accept.

On December 30, Bidzina Ivanishvili officially returned to politics for the third time, becoming “honorary chairman” of the “Georgian Dream” party. Speaking at the GD party congress, Ivanishvili said that the reason for his return was “to protect the excessively strong team from human temptation.”

In his first comments after the party congress on December 30, Ivanishvili said that the country’s Prime Minister would not be changed. Ivanishvili also said there would be no changes in the cabinet or within the ruling party.

The article was updated on February 1, 2023 at 14:47 to include Irakli Kobakhidze’s comment to journalists, and at 14:55 to add Juansher Burchuladze’s statement.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)